Zhang Huan's Hope Tunnel
The controversial artist best known for his performance works has bought a wrecked train and refurnished it for this installation to challenge our perception of tragedy, showing the prevalent sense of hope in times of adversity. The installation while massive and impressive in physical scale fails to provoke a deeper sense of reaction beyond that.
Separately, at the entrance of UCCA, there were two giant sculptures made of incense with dry ice momentarily coming out. If you look carefully, you’ll see skulls and faces. Kind of creepy and am not sure if it is independent of other show, but I suppose it somewhat ties in with the theme of death, life, hope and the belief of after life.
Zhang Huan Exhibition through Oct 24, 2010 at UCCA Beijing.